Voyages on Muriel
by Fitz7
Summary: This contains the Prologue and first chapter which contains the history and present situation of the people of earth who are in search for a new planet which becomes known as Muriel. In this excerpt, you will get a glimpse at the man they call Captain Conall Sparke.


Prologue

A Home for the Legion

Earth, a terrestrial sphere with an ever-growing population. This fact soon became a concern for all mankind as the people began to look for another planet that could be inhabited. Years passed. Suddenly a World War broke out between two factions that were both desperate in controlling the matter of getting people off planet. The factions were the League and the Legion. The Legion received its' name from the amount of ships they possessed in battle against the League in the first battle that occurred in the Pacific Ocean. With six thousand battleships it was an easy win against the League's measly two thousand cruisers. On land the Legion was no match for the League's militia, but on the high seas the Legion was practically unstoppable. It wasn't until two years after the war started that the Legion finally were defeated in their last ocean battle as they were forced to surrender to the League. The League soon interrogated and killed the leaders of the Legion while many of their soldiers were imprisoned.

A few weeks later, a research satellite sent back data confirming that there was a large planet that was able to hold human life. The League decided to take all of the prisoners, put them on shuttles, and send them out to the new planet. Of course, a decent amount of people that were in the League would be going as well in order to maintain order on the new world since all the prisoners from the Legion would be sent there. Ninety large spaceships, with approximately fifty thousand people, set course for this new planet. Once they came into view of their new home, the people beheld the beauty of the ocean planet, which was easily five times the size of Jupiter. As soon as the people entered the atmosphere, they saw the sparkling ocean that went on for miles before any sign of land was seen. Once the people landed on a large island and evacuated the spaceships, they decided on a name for their new home, Muriel. A shining sea. The perfect name for the Legion's new homeworld to begin a fresh start in life.

Several months past with more spaceships arriving with supplies to build the new towns and cities to withhold much people. The larger islands were where the cities were naturally built while the smaller islands were built with a decent size town to hold those who could not afford to live in the large cities. At the end of the year, Muriel's major construction was complete with fully livable housing for all the inhabitants.

Transportation was rather more unique on Muriel than it was back on earth. Because every island was several hundred miles apart, automobiles were not in high demand as they would be on earth. On Muriel it was suggested by those who were for the Legion that they travel by the beautiful sea. The League took it into consideration and decided that it would be better to go along with this idea than to cause contention with another all over again on a new world. Ships began to come out of the shipyard by the hundreds for businesses and those wealthy enough to own their own ship to travel between the distant islands that separated one from the other.

Meanwhile the League kept the Legion busy while they stayed on the largest island that held Muriel's capital city called Posh. It was here that the League handled the affairs of Muriel and kept in contact with those back on earth. Of course, those within the League took great advantage of those who were once against them in the war. Within the cities were the highest technological gadgets that were a luxury to own by those who lived there but those in the towns received the hand-me-down technology that was broken or outdated in the cities of Muriel. The cities also got immediate help when things went wrong or broken down, but the people on the town islands received no such help. Instead, it got so bad that those who lived in the towns had to wait at least two weeks before any service could be provided to them.

Those who served the Legion tried their best to ignore the ill-treatment that the authority of the League gave them, but there were a good many who quickly talked to one another about doing something about the filthy government who was their enemy in the war. In due time, there would be a few brave souls who would stand up against the evil that lurked on this new ocean planet.

* * *

Chapter 1

The Crew

"Have we been spotted!" growled the captain who sat in a large black chair as he looked out through the window at the other ship that was out in the distance. A call came back from a man to the captain's right. "No sir! It seems our cloak was put up just in time."

The captain gripped the arm of his chair roughly as he was still uneasy about how close it could have been for the other ship to have seen them. "You do realize that the ship we have evaded for now is manned by the League!?"

The rest of the crew looked at one another and kept silent knowing their captain had every right to be a little frustrated by this. As smugglers, the crew needed to always stay alert and make sure things went as close to the original plan as possible. The captain's name was Conall Sparke, a man who had been in the war against the League, who was still in his prim at the age of 29. He was tall, built with wavy dark brown hair, rough but charming when he had to be. In truth, Conall treated all of his men fairly even if he did speak gruffly towards them once and a while. "Once we are within spitting distance, I want you to raise the cloak, have the shields up, and have our guns aimed on their ship! Once that is all done, I want the ship hailed."

The man nodded and waited for the signal to obey the captain's commands. Captain Conall turned to his second in command who was nicknamed Hunt. "Do you think they will have the supplies we want?"

Hunt and Conall went way back in their friendship. When they were brought to Muriel, it was Hunt who was there when the two of them picked out and bought the ship which Conall now commanded. Without hesitation Hunt replied, "I think they will. If they do not, we can always strip the ship of all that it is worth and sell it to the black-market."

Captain Sparke nodded as he stroked his chin thinking about the matter. He looked up to see that their ship was within range of the enemy ship. "Deliver the order and hail that ship!"

The crew quickly followed their captain's instructions by lowering the ship's cloak, raising the shields, and aiming the ship's guns at the other ship. The cloak dissipated, revealing their presence to the enemy, and within moments the captain of the other ship was displayed on the screen. He was an old graying man and not very tall at all but he was clearly able to give forth an ugly appearance in the sight of his foes. "What is the meaning of this treachery!?" replied the old captain harshly. "This ship is on its way to delivering supplies to our capitol!"

Captain Sparke stared at the man with a dissatisfied look, clearly not caring where the captain was taking the supplies. "Captain, you will let my men board your ship or else I am going to sink your vessel and plunder it from the bottom of the sea. Do I make myself clear?"

"I don't know who you are but I am Captain Tyrus and I will not just hand over my supplies to a bunch of lousy scum such as yourselves!"

Captain Sparke clenched his left fist and slammed it on the arm of his chair. He turned to one of his gunmen. "Fire a shot at that ship!"

The gunmen, whose nickname was actually Gunny, nodded and fired a shot at the ship. The shot penetrated the enemies shields and hit the side of their ship. A small explosion could be heard on Sparke's command deck. As the explosion went off, the screen showing Captain Tyrus revealed a shocked expression in his eyes as his entire ship lurched from the explosion. Tyrus furiously looked off to the side, most-likely at one of his crew members, before redirecting his attention to Captain Sparke. "How in the world did you penetrate our shields? It was like we didn't even have them up."

Captain Sparke smirked at the bewildered old captain. "Does the Pathfinder ring a bell, Captain Tyrus?"

Captain Tyrus suddenly turned white at the sound of that name. "The Jade missile."

"Yes that's the one. Of course, you would have realized that if you were on your ship's main deck when it exploded to see the green smoke rise from the flames."

"But those are illegal!"

Captain Sparke forced a laugh. "Yes, well so is stealing supplies from your ship. Now if you would be so kind as to lower your shield so my men could board your vessel I would highly appreciate it. Anymore denials and I will use more of those missiles to sink you ship."

Tyrus furrowed his brow at this. "You wouldn't dare!"

Captain Sparke glared at him. "We already know that I would so follow my simple request, _now_!"

Captain Tyrus gave Sparke a defeated nod as the screen went blank. Within seconds Tyrus's ship lowered its' shield and allowed Sparke's men to board and take the supplies.

Once the supplies were on board, Captain Sparke gave the order to set the ship's engines at full speed. The ship quickly sailed away from the damaged enemy vessel. Captain Sparke relaxed in his chair once his ship was out of Captain Tyrus's range.

**(This is not the complete first chapter but it is where I am stopping. Tell me what you think - whether I did a good job or a place you think I can improve on.)**


End file.
